Take a chance
by don't let go just yet
Summary: "I just want to be with you. That's all that matters to me." Austin wants to go public with his relationship with Ally but she still thinks that she's not ready for it. Auslly. One-shot.


Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally.

A/N: Big thanks to _flowerrrs25_ for editing this.

* * *

Sometimes he wonders how he got so lucky.

"Austin! Stop it!" It's one in the morning and her giggles are the only things to be heard in Sonic Boom. "Austin, I'm serious!"

He pretends not to hear her and tickles her more, "Not until you admit that I'm the sexiest guy you've ever seen in your life."

She turns around in his embrace to look at him and makes a face, pretending to be deep in thought. "Um, let's see. You're not actually the sexiest guy that I've ever seen in my life, so why would I lie?" she says while trying to hold her laugh in but fails and the corner of her mouth twitches a little bit.

"That's it!" And he starts tickling her again even harder than before and she laughs and he tries to think of a way to record her laugh and make it his ringtone. Not in a creepy way of course.

"Okay, okay! Here it is! You are," she clears her throat for longer than necessary and continues, "not the sexiest guy that I have seen!" she mumbles quickly before escaping his arms and running towards the practice room, laughing.

He follows her upstairs and when he reaches the open practice room door and sees her standing by the piano giggling, he pouts and enters the room.

When she sees his face, her heart melts just a little bit and she stops laughing. "Aw, don't be sad," she says, walking to where he's standing. "I was kidding. You are the sexiest guy that I've ever seen," she continues and ruffles his hair. And in under 10 seconds, he wraps his arms around her again and whispers in her ear, smirking, "Gotcha!"

And he's tickling her again and kissing her all over her face and she's laughing and he doesn't want this moment to ever end.

He still hasn't figured out how he got so lucky.

* * *

They have been dating for a year, and Ally had asked him when they had first started if they could keep their relationship a secret, except for their close friends and families of course.

At first, he was confused as to why she'd want to keep it a secret and thought that maybe she was embarrassed by him because, well, he was playing the drums with corndogs when they first met. But now he knows that it's not for that reason (she actually thought it was pretty cool how he used corndogs as drum sticks, no matter how disgusting it was), but that she's actually scared of what people might say about them.

She didn't think she would be the kind of girl to care about what others have to say about her. But she's trying this new thing and finally coming out of her shell and facing so many things she never thought she could before, and there's no denying the fact that Austin is quite popular, whether it's at school or outside of it -thanks to his music career and charming personality- and she's still not used to any kind of attention even if she just recently conquered her stage fright.

So he agreed.

* * *

For the whole year, he's been cool with the deal even though it killed him not being able to kiss her, put his arm around her or just hold her hand whenever he wanted to. But he went through with it because he loves her and he told her one day that he'd do anything for her and he meant it back then and he still means it now.

* * *

They're walking down the hallway at school towards her classroom when this guy passes by them and shouts, "Did you get any, yet, Moon?" and nods at Ally and everyone around them starts laughing.

Austin feels his hands shaking with rage and he knows he's not supposed to get this upset over it because the guy's known to be an asshole but he didn't get much sleep last night and he's already kind of in a bad mood and he just had to say that today.

He's two seconds away from throwing a punch at the guy's face when Ally whispers, "Austin, don't," and he feels himself relaxing just a little bit.

He looks down at her face, sees the pleading look in her eyes, takes a deep breath and starts walking again, but instead of going the way leading to her class, he opens a door to a random classroom, pulls her in with him and shuts the door behind them.

"Austin, it's not a big deal, really—" she starts but he cuts her off with a kiss, and when they pull apart, his face is red and his eyes are cloudy and she's doesn't know what to do because she's not used to this Austin.

"Take a deep breath. It's okay. I'm not upset," she whispers as she rubs his arms up and down soothingly. "It's okay."

"But Ally, I could've done something about it. I could've given him a piece of my mind and made sure he won't even think of doing something like that again. I could've—" She takes his head in her hands because she feels him getting shaken up again and tells him in a firm voice, "No, you could not have done anything about it. It's not worth getting worked up over, so just let it go."

"Of course! That's just what we always do in a situation like this! And maybe, just maybe, if people knew about our relationship, none of this would happen. Have you ever thought about that?" He realizes too late what he just said and takes in a sharp breath.

Ally is silent for a few minutes and he's about to start apologizing when she whispers, "This is exactly what would happen if we go public. People here love you. Your fans love you. Everyone loves you. I'm no one to them. They don't know me, and they see me as a threat that's coming to steal their precious boy. And let me tell you, Austin, the things that they have to say about the aforementioned threat are not nice. You know I'm not ready for that attention yet."

"Since when do you care what people say about you? And what about me?" He knows he's being selfish but he's too angry to stop himself. "What's wrong with me wanting to hold your hand when we're walking on the beach or kiss you good luck when you have an exam? Huh? What's wrong with that?"

She takes a few seconds to absorb this because they've been through this before and this _cannot_ be Austin talking. It simply cannot be. "Well, maybe you should find someone that you can hold her hand and kiss her whenever you want."

He can't believe that she said that and he can't believe what he's about to respond, but he does it anyway. "Maybe I should."

Ally feels her vision getting blurry so she opens the classroom door and walks out because he doesn't need to see her crying and she doesn't want him to.

She pretends not to hear a fist slamming into the wall.

* * *

They go three days without talking to each other, each one believing that the other is at fault. They're being childish and they both know it.

Whenever he sees her, his fingers start tingling and all he wants to do is march over to where she is and hug her and kiss her but he holds himself in his spot and reminds himself that he's not the only one who should be apologizing and then turns around and walks in the opposite direction.

Well, she _was_ the one with the logic in their relationship.

* * *

On the fourth day, Austin goes to Sonic Boom to look for his sweatshirt that he lost there a while ago, and after finding nothing around the store, he runs up to the practice room to look for it there.

He'd made Dez ask Trish when Ally would be out for her break so he wouldn't have to see her because it wasn't too obvious for Dez to ask instead of Austin asking her himself.

So imagine his surprise when he opens the door to the practice room and sees her sitting at the piano, writing in her songbook.

"Hey, Trish. You're back ear—" She looks up at the sound of footsteps in the room and cuts herself off when she sees who's at the door. "You're not Trish."

"No kidding." He tries to look anywhere but at her face but gives up two seconds later and glances at her and he feels his heart sinking because he just misses her _so damn much_. "I just came looking for my blue sweatshirt but I can come back later and... yeah." He says it all in one short breath and he's sure she missed most of it but she just nods her head and looks down at her songbook.

He turns to leave but suddenly stops, sighs and turns back to look at her. He takes a deep breath and starts, "Look, I'm sorry about what I said back then, I didn't mean any of those things. I wasn't in my right state of mind and I just lost it. I'm... really sorry, Ally."

The sincerity in his voice makes her stomach squeeze and goosebumps stand up on her arms. She looks up at his face and regrets it immediately because he looks so genuinely sad and she just wants to hug him _so tight_.

She stands up and walks over to him. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have asked you to keep our relationship a secret in the first place and I shouldn't have cared about what people had to say about it," she says, "It's just that—"

"No! You don't have to explain anything. I get it. I really do now. I... " He runs a hand through his hair and walks a few steps towards her. "I never truly realized how going public might affect you and it's actually ridiculous because you're beautiful and smart and amazing and you don't deserve any of that shit and I also realized that I can't really do anything to stop it and that's probably why I blew up that day because I just feel _so helpless_ and I just can't stand it and I—" he stops and takes a deep breath.

"Austin," Ally starts but he cuts her off. "No, let me do this. I'm..." He laughs a small, sad laugh and continues, "Oh man, I'm still not good with words. What I'm trying to say is, I don't care if you want to tell the world about us or keep it a secret. I just want to be with you. That's all that matters to me."

She's quiet for a few minutes, and the next thing he knows, her arms are around his waist and her head is on his chest and he thinks he might be hearing her quiet sniffles and she's whispering "I'm sorry" over and over and he's squeezing her in his arms and kissing her hair and mumbling "It's okay" and he can't help but question how the hell she can still like him after all he puts her through.

He thinks he hears Dez saying something about the Love Whisperer downstairs and decides to thank him and Trish later.

* * *

"Okay, okay. I can do this."

She was all excited and ready for what she's about to do but now that he's standing merely a few feet from her she's losing it. But she needs to do it because she's with Austin now and she promised herself she won't let what the others say get to her and it's for Austin and he deserves it and more. But it's also for her. She has to face it once and for all.

"Oh, hey, Ally. How are—" but before he can finish his sentence her lips are on his and her arms are around his neck and she's kissing him she's really _kissing him in front of the whole school _and he hears people gasp and he doesn't know what to do but kiss her back. And he can't believe that she's _finally _doing this because this is huge for her and she's finally breaking through and doing something that once scared her and he's never been more proud of her in his life. Well, except for when she performed in front of people for the first time.

She's the first to pull away and they're both breathing hard and people around them are clapping and he's grinning the widest grin she's ever seen in her life. He tightens his arms around her waist and whispers huskily, "What was that for?" and noticing his voice, he clears his throat and chuckles.

"I just want to be with you. That's all that matters, right?" she repeats his words from yesterday and smiles up at him and he's pretty sure he's never felt this much love for anyone in his entire life.

"Right," he whispers and leans down to kiss her again because he c_an _do this now and he decides right then and there that he doesn't want to let her go, ever.

* * *

A/N: I have no idea what this is, but let me know what you guys think. Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
